Editing Albert Finney (section)

===1963–1977===
Finney starred in the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]]-winning 1963 film ''[[Tom Jones (1963 film)|Tom Jones]]'', directed by Richardson and written by Osborne. Due to the success of ''Tom Jones'', British exhibitors voted Finney the ninth most popular film actor in 1963.<ref>{{cite news|title=Most Popular Films Of 1963|newspaper=[[The Times]]|location=London, England|date=3 January 1964|page=4}}</ref> Finney received 10% of the film's earnings, which made him over $1 million.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=21 October 1964|page=1|title=Finney's % of 'Tom Jones' Goes Over $1 Million}}</ref>
[[File:Albert Finney 1966b.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Finney in 1966.]]
Finney followed this with a small part in ensemble war film ''[[The Victors (1963 film)|The Victors]]'' (1963), which was a box-office failure. He then made his Broadway debut in ''Luther'' in 1963. When that run ended he decided to take a year off and sail around the world. "People told me to cash in on my success while I was hot," he later said. "I'd been acting for about eight years and had only had one vacation&nbsp;... Captain Cook had been a hero of mine when I was a kid, and I thought it would be exciting to go to some of the places in the Pacific where he'd been."<ref name="new"/> The success of ''Tom Jones'' enabled Finney to produce his next film, ''[[Night Must Fall (1964 film)|Night Must Fall]]'', in 1964, which he also featured in and which was directed by Reisz. A remake of [[Night Must Fall (1937 film)|the classic 1937 film of the same title]], the film was a failure and Finney's performance received poor reviews.<ref>{{cite web |title=Night Must Fall |url=https://variety.com/1963/film/reviews/night-must-fall-1200420591/ |website=Variety |access-date=29 January 2021 |date=1 January 1964}}</ref> 

Finney undertook a season of plays at the [[Royal National Theatre]], including ''[[Miss Julie]]'' by [[August Strindberg]] in 1965.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://passiton.cft.org.uk/archive/cast-list-miss-julie-1965/ |title=Cast List, Miss Julie and Black Comedy (1965) |publisher=Chichester Festival Theatre |access-date=1 September 2021 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190406125414/https://passiton.cft.org.uk/archive/cast-list-miss-julie-1965/ |archive-date=6 April 2019 }}</ref><ref name="guard"/> He continued acting on films with ''[[Two for the Road (film)|Two for the Road]]'' (1967) co-featuring [[Audrey Hepburn]]. He and [[Michael Medwin]] formed a production company, Memorial Productions, which made ''[[Privilege (film)|Privilege]]'' (1967), directed by [[Peter Watkins]]; ''The Burning'' (1968), a short directed by [[Stephen Frears]]; and ''[[If....]]'' (1968), directed by [[Lindsay Anderson]]. Memorial also did stage productions, such as ''[[A Day in the Death of Joe Egg]]'', which Finney performed in London and then Broadway.<ref>{{cite news |title=Albert Finney to Appear Here In 'Joe Egg,' a London Success: Simon Sells "Plaza Suite" Don't Drink" Will Move |first=Sam |last=Zolotow |newspaper=The New York Times |date=12 December 1967 |page=57}}</ref> Memorial also produced some in which Finney did not appear, such as ''Spring and Port Wine'' and ''The Burgular''. Memorial then made ''[[Charlie Bubbles]]'' (1968),<ref>Harding, John. Sweetly Sings Delaney. Greenwich Exchange 2014. www.greenex.co.uk</ref> which Finney featured in and also directed. [[Liza Minnelli]] made her feature debut in the movie.<ref>{{cite news |title=Movie Call Sheet: 'Charlie' Next Film for Liza
|last=Martin |first=Betty |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=21 October 1966 |page=C16}}</ref> Finney later called it "the most intense sense of creation I've ever had."<ref name="new"/> Finney featured in ''[[The Picasso Summer]]'' in 1969, and played the title role in the musical ''[[Scrooge (1970 film)|Scrooge]]'' in 1970.
[[File:Audrey Hepburn & Albert Finney Two for the Road Still.jpg|thumb|right|[[Audrey Hepburn]] and Finney in ''[[Two for the Road (film)|Two for the Road]]'' (1967).]]

Finney then made ''[[Gumshoe (film)|Gumshoe]]'' (1971), the first feature film directed by [[Stephen Frears]], for Memorial. Memorial continued to produce films in which Finney did not appear: ''[[Spring and Port Wine (film)|Spring and Port Wine]]'' (1970), with James Mason; ''[[Loving Memory]]'' (1971), an early directorial effort from [[Tony Scott]]; ''[[Bleak Moments]]'' (1971), the first feature from [[Mike Leigh]]; ''[[O Lucky Man!]]'' (1973) for Anderson; and ''[[Law and Disorder (1974 film)|Law and Disorder]]'' (1974); filmed in Hollywood. In 1972, Finney returned to stage after a six-year absence with ''Alpha Beta'', which he later filmed on television with [[Rachel Roberts (actress)|Rachel Roberts]].<ref name="guard">{{cite news |title=Albert Finney
|newspaper=The Guardian |date=15 March 1972 |page=10}}</ref> Memorial Productions stopped producing and Finney emphasized acting. "It was OK at first," he later said, "but in the end it was sitting in an office, pitching ideas to Hollywood and waiting for the phone to ring."<ref>{{cite news |title=Finney's fondness for the good life |last=Gritten |first=David |newspaper=The Ottawa Citizen |date=21 April 2000 |page=A14}}</ref>

Finney played [[Agatha Christie]]'s Belgian master detective [[Hercule Poirot]] in the film ''[[Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film)|Murder on the Orient Express]]'' (1974). Finney became so well known for the role that he complained that it typecast him for a number of years, "People really do think I am 300 pounds with a French accent", he said.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hughes |first1=David |title=Poirot actors: from David Suchet to Kenneth Branagh, the stars who've played Agatha Christie's sleuth |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/bbc-film-review-programme-cancelled/ |work=The Independent |date=28 December 2018}}</ref><ref>Sanders, Dennis and Len Lovallo. [https://books.google.com/books?id=lrfyAAAAMAAJ&q=Albert+Finney ''The Agatha Christie Companion: The Complete Guide to Agatha Christie's Life and Work''], (1984), pgs. 438–441. Subscription required {{ISBN|978-0425118450}}</ref> He received nominations for the [[Academy Award for Best Actor]] and the [[BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role]].

He announced he intended to direct the film, ''The Girl in Melanie Klein'', for Memorial, but it was not made.<ref>News of the Screen: ' Sugarland' Team For 'Clearwater' 5 Adaptations Set In Theater Series Finney to Direct Comedy on Lunacy By A. H. Weiler. New York Times 12 May 1974: 49.</ref>

Finney decided to take time off from features and focus on stage acting, doing classics at the National Theatre in London. "I felt that it needed commitment," he later said. "When you're making movies all the time, you stop breathing. You literally don't breathe in the same way that you do when you're playing the classics. When you have to deliver those long, complex speeches on stage, you can't heave your shoulders after every sentence. The set of muscles required for that kind of acting need to be trained. I really wanted to try and do justice to my own potential in the parts. I didn't want to be a movie actor just dropping in, doing Hamlet and taking off again. I wanted to feel part of the company."<ref name="new">Finney comes back to film Farber, Stephen. New York Times 26 July 1981: A.1.</ref> 

Finney was at the National for over three years{{when|date=August 2019}} during which he played in [[Hamlet]], [[Macbeth]], [[Tamburlaine]], and plays by [[Anton Chekhov]].<ref name="new"/> Finney made a TV film ''[[Forget-Me-Not-Lane]]'' in 1975, which was written by [[Peter Nichols (playwright)|Peter Nichols]], and he also performed a brief role in ''[[The Duellists (film)|The Duellists]]'' (1977), the first feature directed by [[Ridley Scott]]. He also released an album through [[Motown]].<ref>Whither Albert Finney?: From Manchester to Motown Records Christon, Lawrence. Los Angeles Times 18 July 1977: f1.</ref>